Uplifting photos to remind us of the creativity, beauty and striking diversity in our world. See the link for credits and descriptions and the rest of the photos.


“2016 and 2017 treated us with quite a few breathtaking travel photography shots, and 2018 is no exception. The jury of the Travel Photographer of the Year awards (TPOTY) have just announced their winners, and they perfectly portray the beautiful diversity of our colorful world. Photographers from 142 countries submitted more than 20,000 entrants to the competition, but only one took home the grand prize. Stefano Pensotti was named the Travel Photographer of the Year for his stunning portfolio of eight photographs, depicting how ordinary citizens engaged with their surroundings across several different continents.”















https://www.boredpanda.com/travel-photo-winners-tpoty-awards-2018/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=BPFacebook&fbclid=IwAR3Uu2K2eUfOFVS_DvQLdtrprOeG8ZiP9cFaPZiNBQOZMacAqVMihd8qYbs

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/12/beto-orourke-calls-for-public-pressure-on-trump-to-close-child-migrant-camp-1/

Beto O’Rourke Calls for “Public Pressure” on Trump to Close Child Migrant Camp

More than 2,500 children are being held in Tornillo, Texas.

Jackie Flynn MogensenDecember 15, 2018 5:37 PM

Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) on Saturday urged Americans to pressure the Trump administration to close a child migrant camp run by the Department of Health and Human Services in Tornillo, Texas. More than 2,500 children, most of whom arrived unaccompanied at the border, are currently being kept there—due largely to a controversial Trump administration policy change that has made it more difficult to release the minors to adult sponsors.

Beto tweeted:
There are 1,300 kids ready to leave to live with sponsors who have already been identified. But these children remain at Tornillo each day because this administration has deliberately prolonged the process of releasing them.

O’Rourke called for the type of widespread activism that earlier this year helped force the administration to end its policy of separating migrant families who enter the country illegally. “The public pressure that you brought to bear after Father’s Day that ended the practice of family separation—we need that same pressure again, brought to bear on this administration, to close Tornillo,” O’Rourke said.

Joining O’Rourke were Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.), Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), and Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.). Merkley and O’Rourke are both considering running for president in 2020.

Love these new badass young women!

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/9/1818014/-Ilhan-Omar-tells-pastor-you-re-gonna-have-to-just-deal-with-her-hijab-on-the-House-floor?detail=emailLL

E.W. Jackson, a conservative pastor who claims he is not Islamaphobic, expressed his horror that Democratic legislators are hoping to reverse a ban prohibiting headwear from being worn on the House floor in his radio show. For people who wear headwear for religious reasons, this rule creates an obvious problem. But as The Hill first reported, Jackson expressed his concerns on his radio program and, well, they’re pretty Islamaphobic.

"The floor of Congress is now going to look like an Islamic republic," Jackson said. "We are a Judeo-Christian country. We are a nation rooted and grounded in Christianity and that's that."

Representative-elect Ilhan Omar, one of the first Muslim women to enter Congress, has become the face of the movement to have this rule reversed. So it’ s no surprise she responded to Jackson’s comments.

Ilhan Omar
‏Verified account @IlhanMN

Ilhan Omar Retweeted The Hill (in response to Jackson's tweet below)

Well sir, the floor of Congress is going to look like America...

And you’re gonna have to just deal
https://twitter.com/IlhanMN

https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1070895943619350529
And one more thing. People who make statements like this, "We are a nation rooted and grounded in Christianity and that's that," seem to be unaware that Native Americans were not Christian and were here long before they were. They seem to be missing a vast amount of American history.

Framing is important. The GOP narrative is voter fraud, which they use to justify all kinds of disenfranchisement tactics such as discriminatory voter ID laws, purging voter registration databases, etc., while they do all they can to manipulate elections, whether legal or not. That is election fraud.

We need to call it what it is and not use framing that promotes their narrative.

See this thread for letter - it's a must-read.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211536151

Chris Hayes had two people on talking about how a recession would impact his chances in 2020, apparently assuming he will still be around and be running.

Are we naive when we think he won't be around that long? Of course, when he was "elected," I didn't think he'd last this long, and I was very wrong.

Never in my 70+ years have I seen so many parallel universes coexisting.

Read a few things but it didn't really make sense and was not clear on what's next and whether the victims will eventually get their day in court. Haven't had (and still don't) time to do a lot of digging so was hoping one/some of you all had a better idea.

Finally media coverage...All the dirt about molesting/raping large numbers of underage girls and the cover-ups. Wonder how many Trumpsters this will turn.
"The victims believe they were betrayed by the prosecutors." Bringing out Alex Acosta's role in the non-prosecution deal for Epstein that shut down the investigation.

Acosta is the slimiest of TRump's slimy swamp creatures. Looks like the swamp is beginning to get drained. TRial will be televised since it isn't a federal trial.

Technically off-topic, but morale boosters and beauty that makes us smile and uplifts us are important and never off-topic in my mind. Enjoy!























https://animalencyclopedia.info/15-beautiful-photos-of-animals-enjoying-this-winter/12/